CIV 101-028-31-15CLASS 3

“PREHISTORY AND EARLY CULTURES" & “THE RISE OF

CIVILIZATION: MESOPOTAMIA”

“The West” and the “other” parts that lead to it

The Mesopotamian Parts (sort of) and the parts the lead to

PRE-MESOPOTAMIA (PRE-3500BC) MAJOR CONTRIBUTIONS TO CIVILIZATION

SpeechFarming, esp. irrigationBoatsBricksPopular arts (weaving, dyeing, tanning, pottery)

Lighting with oil lampsTool use,

stone then metalWriting (and all it brings)Construction methodsMetal works Trade outside cohort

From Timetables of History, Bernard Grun, Simon & Schuster, 1979, p. 2-3.

PRE-MESOPOTAMIAMAJOR CONTRIBUTIONS TO WESTERN CIVILIZATION ?

By 4000 BC, parts of Mesopotamia had the wheel. The wheel (and carts) didn’t get to Egypt right away,but eventually, get to the West. Later to China.

The other innovations . . . Were . . . But other civilizations, esp. the Chinese also had many of them near the times of appearance in the West.

AND, the south (Africa) took a lot from their close connections (Egypt) but ended up with different cultural outcomes.

MESOPOTAMIAMAJOR CONTRIBUTIONS TO CIVILIZATION

Oral epic literature (some that would eventually be written down)

Code of Hammurabi & Law

More and improved modes of writing (moving toward letters as we know them)

Religious variety, with specificity, headed toward personification

Headed toward Math

Objects as adornments

Wood and clay architecture

Walled cities

Ziggurats (“pre-pyramids” w/specific shapes, designs, executions, and towers)

Reverse side of a pictographic tablet from Jamdat Nasr, near Kish, Iraq, ca. 3000 B.C.E., listing accounts involvinganimals and various commodities including bread and beer.

Sumerian writing frompictographic scriptto cuneiform script To phonetic system.

MESOPOTAMIAMAJOR CONTRIBUTIONS TO WESTERN CIVILIZATION ?

Code of Hammurabi & Law

More and improved modes of writing (moving toward letters as we know them)

Religious variety, with specificity, headed toward personification

“Urbanization” (city systems), some with fortifications tied to the politics

TIMELINE REMINDER:

Our book discusses Prehistory

Then Mesopotamians

Sumerian, Akkadian, Babylonian

Then Egypt

Then Heirs to Meso-Egypt

Assyrians, Neo-Babylonians, Medes, Persians

TIMELINE REMINDER:

Remember: a lot of the Mesopotamians overlap with Egypt

For example, Hammurabi’s Babylonian Laws (and the bronze) are presented on pages 12-13. Egypt is covered from 15-26.

But Hammurabi’s Laws (and the bronze) date to 1700 BC - - - pretty close to the MIDDLE of the 3,000 year period covered in the Egypt section . . . NOT before them, as the page numbering would suggest.

EGYPT

EGYPT: 3,000 YEARS

Approximate dates, fully rounded

EGYPT: 3,000 YEARS

Old Kingdom: 2700-2185 BC

First Intermediate: 2185-2050 BC

Middle Kingdom:2050-1800 BC

Second Intermediate: 1800-1552 BC

New Kingdom: 1552-1079 BC

Third Intermediate: 1079-732 BC

Late Kingdom: 732-30 BC

Dates withmore precision

OLD KINGDOM: 2700-2185 BC

3rd – 6th Dynasties

The Great Pyramids were constructed in the 4th Dynasty within the Old Kingdom, (2613-2498 BC)

Great pyramids of Gizeh: from left to right,Menkure, ca. 2575 b.c.e., Khufu (Khefren), ca. 2650 b.c.e., Khafre, ca. 2600 b.c.e. Top height approx. 480 ft

The Great Sphinx. Ca. 2560 BCE. 65 ft high x 240 ft long.

FIRST INTERMEDIATE: 2185-2050 BC

War, famine, and fragmentation among the people.Conquest by Thebes: Montjuhotep Isucceeded in subduing the entire country.

MIDDLE KINGDOM: 2050-1800 BC

11th-14th Dynasties

El Lahun, Pyramid of Senusret II

SECOND INTERMEDIATE: 1800-1552 BC

The original folks take (back over) from the foreigner Thebes but are also co-opted by the Hyksos

NEW KINGDOM: 1552-1079 BC18th-20th Dynasties 

 

Statue of Hatshepsut as Pharoah, 18th Dynasty, c. 1495 B.C.E. Granite, 7' 11" high.

Roughly the time of Mosesand the exodus.. Maybe around1446 BC

1279-1213: The reign of Ramses II brings Egypt tothe height of its power

THIRD INTERMEDIATE: 1079-732 BC

Civil wars and decline in the Imperial kingdom (abroad)

Threats and Conquests by

Assyrians

Neo-Babylonians

Persians

LATE KINGDOM: 732-30 BC

25th Dynasty through Roman Rule

Eventually, all roads lead to Rome